Straight Shooters

Peter Berg was quoted in the Whatever. column last Sunday as saying, "If you look at the films made for more than $25 million, very few seem to be made by writer-directors. That's where you get into committees. Look at Mimi Leder and Michael Bay--solid filmmakers, but they're not writing their own stories. They're hired guns. Very accurate shooters, but hired guns."

Berg seems to confuse the word "collaboration" with "committee." In an effort to help clear things up, I enclose a short list of non-writing "hired gun" directors who somehow managed to direct an expensive masterpiece without actually writing it: Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Milos Forman and David Lean, to mention a few.

Finally, giving credit where credit is due, I collaborated with a committee of two writers and three producers to "accurately" write this letter!